A Critique of Global Citizenship Education in International Schools

I’ve been trying to figure out how to do global citizenship education (GCED) and service-learning — and how to do it well — in two different international schools for about 13 years. Recently, I’ve had several conversations about these terms: global citizenship and service-learning. Some of those conversations have focused on the way in which the terms have been misunderstood, misrepresented and misapplied. Some have advocated for different terminology, such as “community engagement.” I get this; terms sometimes get so burdened with harmful implications that it’s better to throw them off and get rid of the baggage that people associate with them. Some have come to associate global citizenship with a privilege reserved for just an elite globalist class with the passports, resources and networks that allow them to exist aloof from state borders and national loyalties. Some have come to associate service-learning with a paternalistic, do-gooder, pitying approach to helping others. I can understand the inclination to reject terms that conjure up these types of associations. On the other hand, I’m not sure just throwing off the terminology will address some of the root issues with how these ideas are enacted in international schools.